In a tale of two protests, a stark divide among young voters on the Israel-Hamas war

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/ [login to see] /young-voters-biden-israel-palestinians-hamas-war-gaza
Prachi Jhawar stands in a crowd of demonstrators in downtown Washington, just minutes from the White House. The 23-year-old is one of the thousands calling on President Biden to demand a cease-fire in Gaza and halt additional aid to Israel.

When Jhawar, who voted for Biden in 2020, thinks about him running for reelection in 2024, she says she's grim.

"We voted for him with the hope that he would protect human rights," Jhawar said. "Gen Z cares so much about human rights."

"To have our commander-in-chief not actually follow through with that and not support that is really disheartening," she continued.

Jhawar's comments come as a faction of progressive lawmakers and youth voter organizations are voicing anger and dissatisfaction with Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

"It just feels like he's not really listening to us," Jhawar added.

Over a week after pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched on Nov. 4 for a cease-fire, tens of thousands of people met on the National Mall in support of Israel.

"We want to continue to have generations of Jewish people stay alive and the Jewish faith stay alive," said 23-year-old Sheindl Spitzer-Tilchin, a Jewish student who attended the march on Nov. 14.

Spitzer-Tilchin, who is a Democrat and voted for Biden in 2020, says she is thankful for his response to the conflict.

"I appreciate him standing up for Israel and understanding how atrocious and how scary this can be for college students, families, everywhere in the world, not even just Israel," she says.

As the war rages on in the Middle East, young Americans are weighing in on how the White House's response may affect their own view of politics. Millennial and Gen Z voters have voted for Democratic candidates, but against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, some political approval is shifting.